Welcome to the Flixist Community

At any number of other sites, a simple sentence like this might not mean a whole lot. Plenty of websites claim to be communities, and some of them are. Flixist, however, is 100% about community.

You see, none of us wants to make a website for “me.” It’s about “you,” or even more appropriately, it’s about “we.” It’s about all of us being together in one place and reveling in something that we love. It’s a chance for people who had no idea how similar they really are to spend time together, not only over the Internet, but at real-world events.

This is what the Flixist Community is, and just by being here, you’re already a part of it. And if you’ve ever heard of the little thing called Destructoid, you already know just what brand of awesome you’re now a part of. Read on to see exactly what you’ve gotten yourself in to.

What I really want to do, however, is let you know what we’re hoping to do with the community here. We think we have a lot of fun ideas, but the beauty is that we’re only now getting started, and we have a lot of room to experiment and change stuff around to make sure you’re having a lot of fun here. The things I’m about to list below are just the basics, and as we continue to grow, we’ll be able to offer more and more great stuff for you.

Now, on to the awesome. 

Blogging: The last thing we want to do here at Flixist is talk at you. The Internet isn’t some sort of content delivery vehicle that allows us to say stuff to you all day so you can read it, leave, and forget about us. Instead, we want to see your writing as much as we want you to see our own writing. 

That’s why every user gets his or her very own blog here on Flixist. Yup, it’s an awesome space waiting for you to populate it with your word children, telling us just how cheap that Inception ending was, why Toy Story 3 is easily the best Pixar film ever, or why Stephen Root is the greatest living comedic genius. The possibilities are far too numerous for our modest staff to even put a dent in.

So this is a call to you: go forth, my children, and populate thine blogs with the most beautiful word children that your film sperm can produce. Don’t be shy about it, either. The community will tell you what we like and don’t like, and you can be assured that your hard work will always be read and appreciated. Just don’t suck. No one likes that.

Groups: Let’s imagine that you’re just crazy about movies with Sting in them. Dude has been in seventeen movies, and you love them all. Even Bee Movie. But how can you sufficiently show your love of Sting’s acting prowess? The answer is groups.

Groups are the best way to organize your activity on Flixist so that you’ll never miss something you care about. If you do happen to love Sting, then you’ll want to make a group for him. That way, when you write “Top ten reasons Sting should be in a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant,” everyone else who follows the Sting group will see your post and say,” Holy crap, Sting should be in a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant.” It’s like clockwork, really.

Are you so smitten with Sting that you need every piece of information that anyone on Flixist writes about him? That’s what you’ll find on the Sting group page. If you need information about something you love, follow that group, and the site will do the rest.

What groups aren’t meant to do, however, is segregate the community. We won’t have groups competing against each other. So, yeah, don’t do that. 

Forums: Sometimes, you just don’t have a blog’s worth of content to say. Sometimes, you just want to chat it up casually with dudes and ladies who you like. Sometimes, you want to have a Photoshop war wherein you attempt to Photoshop Gary Busey into a variety of films from the 1960s. For these times, we have forums.

There’s not a lot to say about forums that you likely don’t already know, but I will say this: hit those forums, and hit them hard. If you’re the kind of person who thrives in a forum environment, we will be relying on you as the site gets going to populate the forums with a variety of quality threads. Hey, there might even be rewards in it for you; a forum does need moderators, after all. If you’re a force of awesome for the forums, you’ll be first on the list when we start looking for people to step up. 

Events: I’d love to cover each event individually here, but I do at least claim to have a life, and that would take, like, forever. But know this: there are going to be some mighty fine Flixist community events for you to become Internet famous for. 

What sorts of events? How about Saturday Night Cinema, where the Flixist community watches a movie and talks about it over the fine Internets? With Netflix Instant, Hulu, and so many other wonderful movie-watching vessels available now, and more coming soon, we’re going to have some epic movie nights. Plan 9, anyone? Yikes. In any event, we’ll have an official announcement of that particular event later today.

But the best part of Flixist events is that they’ll never be limited to the webosphere, which is definitely a word. Have visions of visiting a stranger’s house, having a nice dinner, watching a movie, and not having the gimp assail you? Yep, that’s coming in the future. We here at Flixist guarantee 100% gimp-free Dinner and a Movie parties. Flixist cannot be held responsible if a non-community member brings a gimp to an offline community gathering.

Contests: Hey, Jane. Like winning stuff? Well, Jane, Flixist sure is a place that’s gonna let you win stuff. Crazy, right?

What Flixist promises in terms of contests is this: we will have them, you will want them, and they will not suck. We’re not going to ask you to do stupid things to win stupid prizes for stupid people. We’re going to give you a reason to have fun on our website and maybe even win something cool at the same time. 

Fair enough?

You: The best thing about a community, a real community, is that it doesn’t need to be told what to do. We just want to give you the tools to have a lot of fun on the Internet and hang out in a place that loves movies as much as you do. As long as you’re here, you’ll be a part of that.

So how’s this: you’re here on the very day that our site is opening. We have a lot of awesome ideas, but we don’t have all of them yet. That would just be weird and superhuman. You’re in a perfect position to give us the rest of those awesome ideas so we can take over the world or something.

Honestly, we want this to be your place, and we want you to do whatever you can think of as long as it doesn’t approach the realm of douchitude. Is there something you want out of the community? Just let us know. You can find me at andrew [at] flixist dot com at any time you wish. 

So, you’ve already created an account, yes? Filled out your profile? Great. Now, browse through the community. You’ll never be the same.